PanethosMy pick for “Best Planning Book” published in 2025
Source: bookshop.orgNow and then one comes across a book that sets new standards for excellence in print. It may be due to its content, the context, the impact of the publication on society, or a defining aspect of the book that sets it apart from others. In this particular case, Chicago Homes: A Portrait of the City’s Everyday Architecture solidly achieves at least three of the aforementioned pinnacles, with its rich and defining illustrations being beyond exemplary.
Three example illustrations from Chicago Homes – Source: arcchicago.blogspot.comChicago Homes by Carla Bruni and Phil Thompson succeeds in telling the history of one of America’s greatest and most-beloved cities through its housing heritage — specifically the styles and trends in housing that shaped Chicago’s residential development from a lonely outpost at the forks of the Chicago River through World War II. This contextual relationship between Chicago’s housing biography and the city’s overall urban history is tremendously informative and is filled with many interesting tidbits and anecdotes.
Too often as planners, we get tied up in the scale of scope of large projects, whether they be towering skyscrapers, enormous transportation projects, placid and serene parks, or large commercial and industrial developments. Meanwhile, it is the individual house, the home, a dwelling unit, or an apartment that in unison form the largest proportion of the communities we serve. As a result, it is their relationship to the overall city that can largely shape one’s sense of place.
” Chicago was built on change. we’re still culturally the same old city, and our homes are still extensions of who were are, individually and collectively. Architecture is politics. Architecture is whimsy. Architecture is people.”
Source: “Chicago Homes,” page 298.
The icing on the cake to Chicago Homes is the stunningly detailed and gorgeous illustrations provided throughout the book showing the progression of architectural trends, styles, and decorative features that developed over time for residential dwellings throughout the city. The amazing illustrations prepared by Mr. Thompson’s Wonder City Studio alone could be framed and sold in galleries across the country they are so beautiful.
As the book addresses Chicago’s housing history up to and including World War II, more recent trends (both good and bad) are not incorporated in the book except with brief references in the epilogue and elsewhere. This aspect in no way detracts from the book and would make for a fascinating sequel publication in the future.
This retired planner strongly recommends this book, and not only to existing, former, or wannabe Chicagoans and architecture geeks. For Chicago Homes transcends both geography and genre in a manner that should captivate most any reader with its fascinating content, its broadly appealing context, and its truly defining illustrations.
Peace!
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